My husband and I welcomed our first born into the world in the fall of 2010. In anticipation of her birth, I had an enjoyable pregnancy. I had fun shopping and planning because we knew it was going to be a girl, and I even got back into writing in a journal. I wasn’t influenced too much by things I noticed online as far as “the theme of the nursery”, or must-have baby gadgets. I wasn’t too active on Facebook, and I hadn’t discovered my beloved Instagram yet. The only real visual references I knew of as far as all things baby were the items pictured on the baby registries online, and whatever I felt like googling. I didn’t bother with the Pottery Barn Kids catalogues. The photos of the most perfect baby nurseries and all the accessories just felt unrealistic to me.
Pinterest was founded between 2009 and 2011. It was not fully on my radar yet until right around the time when my daughter turned 2. My best friend teacher co-worker at the time turned me on to it. Before we knew it, most of my colleagues and mommy friends couldn’t close out a grade level meeting or wrap up a playdate without making some reference to what we saw on Pinterest. It was amazing. It still is. It’s my favorite kind of online rabbit hole, and a wonderful resource for any visual spark of an idea that I have in my head. However, I am not the same person who I was when I first started using it.
Back then between 2012 and 2014, celebrating my daughter’s birthday was obviously a very special event, and the excitement of gathering family and friends to catch up and hang out was a given.
However, I also saw these events as an opportunity to IMPRESS THE HELL OUT OF EVERYONE WITH MY MAD CRAFTING SKILLS.
Everything I saw on Pinterest was so cute and colorful and perfect. I was inspired by how amazing you could make your crappy backyard look with a few hundred different handmade decorations and centerpieces.
It was September of 2012. My daughter’s second birthday party was a backyard picnic that was Hello Kitty themed and amazing. The weather was perfect. The sun shined perfectly to highlight all of the decorations I made, both in the backyard and inside the house. I had worked on these decorations weeks before, while also teaching full time and taking care of a toddler. Somehow I found the time and somehow I found the money (charge it to the game) to buy all the crafting tools and supplies. The kids had fun at different activity stations that were crafted to a T, down to the Hello Kitty duct tape. The adults got to take home amazing little red velvet cupcakes in mason jars (Thanks Suanne!), and everyone loved my re-purposed Kombucha bottle centerpieces.
The Hello Kitty Party posts
That same year, my beloved Instagram account was born. It didn’t take me long to realize that I could totally borrow an idea from Pinterest, create my own version of it, and then show off the final results on Instagram. It was the beginning of my Instaddiction. I was satisfied. I felt like the cutest craftiest mom. The “look at me” online mentality started to grow. So of course I had to keep it going. The next birthday party was going to be just as crafty and cute and beautiful. Above all else, it had to be Instaworthy.
The 2013 Cowgirl Roundup Birthday Party of The Century and all of its’ Pin-Insta goodness is coming up in the next post.
Until then,
- Acknowledgement: Historically, I’ve spent a lot of time and money on crafts.
- Goal for the Future: Purge craft supplies. They sometimes make me sad.
- Now: Work on part 2 of this post.
Until Jenn 
My name is Kelly and I was once a Pinterest addict. 🙂
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